Bram moved to the edge of the treeline, his eyes studying the nest down below.

"I think it would be wise to cover your scent," he said. "Any closer, and they're going to smell you."

It was a good point. Pip nodded and walked over to the trunk of the car with Mati.

"You have the ingredients?" he asked. Most hunters going on a vampire hunt carried saffron, skunk cabbage, and trillium. Mixed together, they would erase a human's, and even another vampire's, scent from detection. After they fixed up the concoction, Pip and Mati applied some liberally to their clothes and skin.

"This is going to take some serious dry cleaning," Pip sighed, then looked around for Bram. "Mr. Van Helsing, sir, do you need-"

But Bram was nowhere to be seen. Pip hurried to the edge of the ridge and looked down, then gave a sharp intake of air.

"Mati!" he called, motioning frantically. Down below, Bram was strolling straight for the nest, nearly at the entrance. Perhaps he'd already had his own mixture, as none of the vampires seemed to have noticed yet. If he barged right in the front door, however, it was only a matter of time.

Trust him? That all depended on what Pip was trusting him to do. If it was wiping out whatever vampires got in the way, that was an affirmative yes. If it was cooperating with the plan to save Cyrus...

"We should hurry," Pip said, following after Mati.

--------------------

Bram's footsteps were close enough now that the two vampires keeping guard sat up, alert. When the hunter appeared in view, they jumped to their feet, looking fierce.

"Hey, what do you think-" the first said. Before he could finish the sentence, his head was lying on the ground, wide-eyed in surprise. The second stared at the cane in Bram's hand, which had released its sheath to reveal a very sharp blade beneath, then at Bram's face.

Fast. Far too fast. He was at least as fast as them, if not more so.

"What are you?" the vamp said. His head quickly followed the first without another word. Bram kicked them aside, then strode into the nest.

--------------------

The building had to have been some kind of fishing warehouse before it had been appropriated by the vamps. They'd compartmentalized rather well. In the back, where they'd entered, they found humans strung up. This must be there feeding chamber. In the room off of that a few were locked up, looking disoriented and drugged - recently turned, Pip surmised. The living quarters for the vamps were toward the front, where they could hear shouts beginning to arise. Bram must be making quite a racket.

"Do you see him?" Pip asked, looking around the human prisoners. Some were still alive, in varying states of health. They'd have to get them out too.

"Pip?" someone moaned. Pip hurried to the back of the room and gasped.

It was Cyrus. He neck was bloody and mangled from the repeated feedings. He was an ashy grey and terribly weak. But he was alive.

"He'll make it," Pip said, sighing. "Did you find keys?"

Their machetes wouldn't work on these chains. They would need to find the key. If one of the vamps had it...

"There's others," Cyrus moaned. "Just got turned. We have to save them too. They haven't fed yet. They can be helped."

"If we want to save them as well, we got no time to find the keys." Said Mati; Mati remembered well of what Bram said,'I can assure you, I won't leave any of them alive.' And Mati had a feeling Bram would definitely kill the newly turned vampire as well even though they could be unturned.

Mati looked at the chains, if it was rusty enough, he could just brute force it. His explanation of that exceptional strength? 'I lived my life as some what underground fighter'

If not rusty enough and it was newly built chains, well, Mati had no choice, but to use his power. "Close your eyes, this might blind your eyes if you don't" Said Mati, looking serious. "That even includes you, Pip. Do not open them until I say it's okay."

The chains, whatever it was made of, the part of it was gonna melt due to the heat of Mati's flame. The chain would be dropped to the ground. "Alright, Cyrus and Pip, open your eyes. Cyrus, you better tell me where are the others now. The one who came with us might not be too friendly with them." Mati said it urgently, and yes, Mati clearly knew what he meant. The hero, that Pip looked up to, might kill them, if they don't get to them first.

Pip and Cyrus exchanged uncertain looks, then shut their eyes and waited. When they opened them, Cyrus' chains had been dismantled. The older hunter tried to move, but he was still too weak and slumped against the wall.

"Down the hallway," he said, swallowing thickly. "There's a room off to the left that's barred off. They're in there. Hurry."

Pip looked around the room at the other humans being used for feeding.

"Go help them out," he told Mati. "I'll see if I can't get everyone else free in here. There might be a spell or something I can use. Lock-picking, if all else fails."

He smiled reassuringly and gestured for Mati to go before stooping to help Cyrus up.

"Make sure you get away safely" Said Mati and went down to save the just turned vampire. Mati ready his machete, he had to be careful with them, or else they might decide to feed off his blood, which is not human blood..

In any case, he quickly made it to where Cyrus told him about and entered the room. "I am not here to kill you, but to help you. If you want to live, follow me."

Mati was ready to face Bram as well if rescuing them was against his wishes, and this time, Mati won't stay defenseless; he would fight back with his angelic and demonic inheritance. Well Mati is hoping it won't go far as to use his several other powers... But he would do whatever it takes to save them.

His father and mother taught him, every souls are worth saving in God's eyes. And that was enough for him to save these newly turned vampires.

Bram watched silently from his place by the door as Mati fought back against the vampires swarming over him. Good enough.

Bram walked into the room holding the newly formed vampires and shut it behind him. The newly-turned vamps stirred, then shrank back as Bram held up a hand, instantly subduing them.

"Tell me," he said quietly. "Your beta - is she the one known as Larka Snow?"

--------------------

The victims of the vampire feeding had been brought safely back to the car. Those with enough strength helped those who didn't.

"Keep them safe," Pip told Cyrus, handing him the dart gun of dead man's blood. He wouldn't have enough strength to wield the machete.

With that done, Pip raced back to the nest, hoping it wasn't too late. But his worries were misplaced, it seemed. Bram and Mati had made short work of most of the vampires. Mati seemed to be dealing with the last of them, but where had Van Helsing gotten off to?

And then a vamp dropped down catlike from the roof. He seemed to be more clever than his companions, as he had retrieved a crow bar and poised to skewer Mati from behind. Without stopping to think, Pip dashed forward and swung his machete with all his might.

The impact sent a shock through his arm, and he fell to his knees as the body collapsed into a heap, the head rolling dismally across the floor.

Mati realized he was being attack from behind, but before the vampire could make a jump on him, Pip intervened. Mati gave a nod to Pip, acknowledging the help, "thanks, Pip." Said Mati, but he said in hurry as there were still coming at him. "Pip, i want you to get into that room and check what Bram is up to!" Mati pointed at the door that was shut behind him.

Pip should know what Mati was implying, Mati was implying that Bram might kill those newly turned vampires, who could be unturned.

"Hurry and lead them out of here." Said Mati, letting his machete separate another vampire's head.

Pip nodded to Mati and hurried for the door to the prisoners. Unsurprisingly, he found the door sealed shut against him.

Pip shook the door, banged against it, but to no avail. Well, he'd have to take it down then. He'd seen this in the movies before. Time to give it a shot.

Steeling himself, he took a deep breath, tensed his leg and kicked for the door.

Unfortunately, the door swung open at that moment, dropping Pip into a half-split before collapsing onto his side. Bram strode past him, pausing to give a reproachful look, before entering into the corridor. Pip collected himself and stared back into the room, expecting to find a pile of corpses. Instead, he had to shuffle aside as the newly-turned vamps followed Bram out, still looking as though they were in a stupor.

"Is that the it?" Bram asked, pointing to the corpse Pip had decapitated. One of the turned vamps nodded slowly.

"That's your beta," Bram said, sounding disinterested. "You'll need it if you want to make that cure."

With that, he strode past the corpses and left the nest behind. Pip looked from the famed hunter's back to Mati, wondering what that had all been about.

[OOC: You can skip to everyone being outside, and the turned vamps having been given the cure.]

Abraham Van Helsing was gone, as though he'd never been there. Pip sighed, wondering what had caused the sudden emergence of the famed hunter and his strange demeanor. Whatever the case, Sera would want to know.

He walked back to the others as one of the newly-turned vamps looked up at Mati, ashen faced from the effects of the cure.

"He... he wanted to know about our 'beta,' he called it," the woman said weakly. "Wanted to know the name."

"What was the name?" Pip asked curiously. Why would Bram be so interested in the name of the beta vampire?

The woman shook her head, but the man beside her answered.

"Larka, he said. Larka Snow."

Pip furrowed his brow. The name meant nothing to him. What did it mean to Van Helsing?

"We should get these people back to their homes," Pip told Mati. He wondered how much of a stir it was going to cause when close to ten missing people suddenly showed up without explanation.

Thanks to effort from Mati, Cyrus and Pip the missing people were united with their families.

Mati sighed as he entered the motel room with Pip and Cyrus. The three had to do lots of catching up. Cyrus was led to the comfortable bed, which was Mati's, and Mati sat on the chair. Pip had choices of how he wanted to position himself.

Mati scratched his hair, "So, Cyrus, was it? I am Matityahu, in short you can just call me, Mati. This is Pip, who you already know. Not trying to offend your pride, but I need to know what exactly happen and how you ended up there."

Sera Winchester let herself into the room, nodding to those present. She looked over at Mati for a moment, her gaze intense and scrutinizing, but she turned it on Cyrus quickly enough.

"Tch," Cyrus muttered. With the regaining of his strength, he was also regaining his cantankerous demeanor. "Come on, I really got to say it? Made a mistake. Thought I was dealing with a lone vamp, and it turned out to be a nest. They got the drop on me and dragged me back."

"Stubborn old goat," Sera said, her eyes piercing. "If you'd just called in like you were supposed to do-"

She stopped herself and sighed. Cyrus had been around the block. He was well aware of how much he'd screwed up.

"All right, we'll talk more later. I need a word alone with these two."

Cyrus looked at Mati and Pip, then nodded and left the room. Sera waited until he was gone, then stood and began to pace.

Mati was surprised by sudden appearance of Sera, Mati looked at Pip. Mati's face had the expression of 'Did you contact her?', then again, Sera had tendency to make her appearance at the right time. For some reason, she knew when hunters were done with their job... Strangely....

Mati looked at Pip, then looked at Sera again. Mati sighed, "Yes, we met him." He said it heavily, "he joined us for the hunt, but it seems like he was not there to save Cyrus, but was looking for vampire named Larka Snow."

There, he said it. But, he did not talk about the incident that happen between him and Van Helsing. Why would he? Mati was not going reveal his real heritage here by revealing Van Helsing's actual identity.

Mati shook Pip's hand, "It was my pleasure working with you too. Your knowledge of spell helped us greatly."

Then as Pip went off, Mati eyes were met with Sera's, Mati nodded back at Sera. "It was nothing, I just happened to be nearby," And he gave her weak and gentle smile, "You too, and thanks for everything."

After they were gone, Mati sighed. His face slowly faced the ceiling, staring at it blankly. As he helped families getting united, he couldn't help himself, but missing his father and mother.

He softly whispered, "Mom.... Dad.... Where are you?" Then his hands covered his face, rubbing his face. He was trying to get rid of frustration and sadness that came rushing to him.